Rosneft and BP have signed agreements to create a new joint venture (JV), Yermak Neftegaz, to develop prospective resources in Russia’s West Siberian and Yenisey-Khatanga basins.
The JV’s primary focus will be on onshore exploration of two areas of mutual interest (AMIs) in the basins, which cover a combined area of about 260,000km².
Rosneft will own 51% of Yermak Neftegaz, while the remaining 49% would be owned by BP.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said: "These agreements serve as an example of full scale cooperation with BP, Rosneft’s strategic partner and largest minority shareholder.
"After creation of the Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha JV we are now broadening the geography of our cooperation and creating a precedent, which allows us to pursue cooperation in partnership with leading international companies to implement upstream projects at the largest Rosneft greenfield sites in West and East Siberia."
Initially, the JV will perform further appraisal work on the Baikalovskiy field inside the Yenisey-Khatanga AMI, which was discovered by Rosneft in 2009.
Furthermore, it will explore Zapadno-Yarudeiskoye, Kheiginskoye and Anomalnoye licenses in the West Siberian AMI.
As part of exploration activities in the two AMIs, the JV will perform regional research, acquire seismic data and drill exploration wells.
Field works are expected to begin in 2016 / 2017.
BP Russia president David Campbell said: "This agreement and creation of a new joint venture reinforces BP’s commitment to our strategic investment in Russia and our long-term partnership with Rosneft.
"In the current low oil price environment we continue to look for opportunities for future growth."
BP will contribute up to $300m in two phases to the cost of the JV’s activities during exploration, while Rosneft will contribute licenses and operational experience in the two basins.
Rosneft subsidiaries will carry out the initial drilling.
